“The Most Dangerous Book” by Kevin Birmingham - “Ulysses”: The Unsinkable Literature Carrier

It is not uncommon for geniuses to be so far ahead of their time that some of their most celebrated works were shunned back in their times.

For instance, take the literary classic Ulysses by James Joyce, a real game changer, one of the true pioneers of modernism, helping to bring about a new era in literature.

However, as Kevin Birmingham details it in his account of the book's chaotic story, titled The Most Dangerous Book, Ulysses's strength and originality also wound being its weakness; the vivid detail with which everything was described and the lack of “leaving things up to the imagination” led most to see the novel as something utterly obscene that shouldn't even see the light of day.

And so began a decade-long gauntlet of legal and personal battles for James Joyce and his publisher, Bennett Cerf, in hopes of getting the book past the censorship it was subjected to.

The book, it can be said, is divided into two parts by the subjects it deals with. On one hand, we get a rather in-depth account of what Joyce's life was like at the time, his love affair with Nora Barnacle, the many notable people he frequented, including Pound and Hemingway, and the numerous extravagant adventures he had.

However, to be fair, that part of Joyce's life had already been explored and re-explored by a number of different writers, so even though this book is certainly informative in that regard, it is not where it truly shines.

James Joyce ( February 2, 1882 - January 13, 1941 )

What really sets this book apart from the other ones delving into that period of Joyce's life is the amount of focus it places on the legal battles which took place. Joyce spent much of his time also fighting in court against the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, along with the help of Bennett Cerf, a publisher and co-founder of Random House, as well as Morris Ernst, a lawyer.

Ultimately, after decades of fighting, sixty years of precedence were overturned and the ruling was made in favor of Joyce. Birmingham takes great care to look into the criminally under-investigated side of this milestone in the lifting of censorship, trying to make the reader understand what it was exactly about the book that frightened people away, why their actions were understandable in some way at least, and why it is of such importance that Ulysses got published.

I'll say it right now, if you are not a fan of the history of literature and prefer to see books as entertainment above anything else, then this book may not really be up your alley.

Though there are certainly many interesting elements that will hold your attention for the mere sake of their uniqueness, on the whole the book doesn't really offer all that much excitement.

What it does offer, however, is a real gold mine of knowledge on one of the most important events in recent literary history, complete with vivid details that help to bring the world from a hundred years ago to life right in front of your eyes.

If you are seeking to learn about Joyce or the perilous road that Ulysses had to travel before being allowed to see the light of day, then this is most certainly the book for you.

By the end of it, you are going to actually feel like you learned something important, like your sphere of knowledge expanded just a bit, a feat fewer and fewer books seem to manage.

---

Kevin Birmingham Personal site Kevin Birmingham is an American author as well as a lecturer in History & Literature at Harvard, not to mention an instructor in the Writing Program. So far he has published one work: The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses, wherein one of his favorite topics, the history of literary censorship, is explored through one specific case.